The Lonely
by artist1157
Summary: When Hale wakes up from a bad dream in the middle of the night, feeling more lonely then ever, who does he run to?  From Hale's POV. This is the fluff story you've all been asking for.


** This story is based off the song "The Lonely" by Christina Perri. It's an incredibly haunting and beautiful song. I already had this scene pictured in my mind before I heard the song, and it only enhanced my idea. If you haven't heard it, I suggest that you do. I think it gives some insight to Hale's dream and his feelings.**

** This is from Hale's POV and takes place after "Heist Society". All rights to the characters go to Ally Carter. I hope you enjoy… see you at the bottom!**

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><p><em>I ran harder and faster. My arms were pumping along with my legs, in a steady rhythm. I had to get to her. Time was running out. I had to make sure she was safe.<em>

_ I couldn't let the loneliness in. I couldn't let it devour me whole and swallow me in pain. I had to find her. I couldn't stay up one more night, a shell of the person I once was. I couldn't bear to walk through one more day, a broken, lost ghost._

_ She had to be here. I stared up at the forty- foot walls. There was no other way of getting in. I had to climb. That's all I could do to get to her._

_ The wall was slippery and smooth, and no matter how hard I tried there was no way to climb up. It was impossible. I circled the grounds, and found no gate or entryway. _

_ I crumpled against the wall, my head tilted back against it, my eyes shut it despair. How was I supposed to get to her like this, with just myself? I had no weapons or tools to help me at all._

_ The wind whipped around me. Her voice whispered to me on the ends of the wind, "Hale."_

_I shook my head and covered me ears with my hands but I could still hear her voice. "Hale. I'm here. Why won't you come to me?" _

_Why was she doing this to me? Couldn't she see that no matter how hard I tried there was no way that I could do this alone. Didn't she know that I needed her to help me, to give me a direction to go in?_

_ Her scream echoed on the wind, and I crumbled, clutching my stomach in pain. I didn't want to hear her scream. Nothing I did could save her. Nothing I ever did was good enough to save her. _

_ I let my own scream well up inside me, as I let her go and let the loneliness enter my heart. She was gone now, and I've learned to give up. Because once I heard her scream and the wind was silent, I knew I would never see or hear from her again. I was even more of an empty shell then I was before._

_ I pulled on my hair and focused on the pain as I scream out. Now it was the wind's turn to carry my voice, away from the walls where she was, and out into the darkness…_

I woke up to my own scream. I sat up, and I realized that I had fallen off the bed. I put my hand over my bare chest, right where my heart was. I could feel it beating and was reassured that it wasn't an empty shell. Groggily, I stood up. I wiped the dry tears off on my face as I glanced at the clock. It was two in the morning, the house silent.

I ran a hand threw my hair as I walked out my bedroom door and down the hall. The doors to the blue room were shut. I opened one as slowly as I could. I knew exactly how far I could open it before it started to squeak. I walked over to the bed, my footsteps silent on the thick carpeting. Standing near her, looking down at her sleeping form, I allowed my heart rate to slow back to its normal pace.

She was here. She was safe.

I did this every time I had I dream about loosing her forever. I just had to reassure myself that she was still here, alive and with me.

She sighed and rolled over to face me. She was beautiful, and I loved every part of her. Her hair, which was now spread behind her like a river of dark chocolate. Her smile and her laugh, which made my heart flutter. Her eyes, which let me read her like on open book. Her mouth, which I have yet to build up the courage to kiss.

And her presence was intoxicating enough. Her power and her poise, combined with her intelligence and her skill made her great. No one could compete with her on any level.

I didn't realize my hand was reaching out to touch her olive skin until it made contact, pushing her hair back from her face. This wasn't enough for me, and I slid my hand down to caress her check, only for a moment.

She frowned and stirred in her sleep. I retracted my hand quickly as she rolled on her back and sprang up, hands at my throat in an instant.

My eyes widened in surprise as I felt her hands enclose on me and start to crush my windpipe. Her eyes were hard and vicious, threatening me. When she actually looked at me and realized that it was only me, she relaxed and let her hands drop.

"Sorry, Hale." She said as she plopped back down into her bed. I brought my hands up to touch my throat. Hopefully that didn't leave a mark.

She stared at me, eyes guilty. "Look Hale, I didn't mean…. Well, I was having a bad dream and you startled me…"

I don't know what made me do it, if it was her vulnerability in this moment or that I just wanted to touch her again. But I stepped forward and scooped her up into my arms. I wanted to feel her bare arms on me and her warm body pressed against mine. I wanted the comfort and sanity that she always brought me. But I also needed to prove that she was real, and that this wasn't just a dream.

I sat on the bed, in the tangle of covers, holding her close to me, our bodies entangled. I let her warmth fill me up, our bare skin sticking together in the heat. She didn't say anything at first, but just let me hold her.

"Hale," she finally whispered.

I bent my head down towards her. "Kat." I whispered back.

"What are you doing here?"

The question startled me. I answered honestly, no sarcasm or charm in my voice. "I needed to see you."

I felt her hands push on my chest as she pulled away from me to look at my face. Her eyebrows were raised in question. I told her, "I had a bad dream too."

She nodded her head, and let her fingers trail up to my neck. "What was it about, that you needed to see me?"

I looked away from her, closing my eyes for only a moment. I needed to push down the wave of emotions that this dream brought on. When I opened my eyes she was staring at me, eyes worried and confused.

"I dreamt about you." I paused and lowered my voice. "I dreamt about losing you. I lost you, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. To stop you from leaving and being gone forever."

I closed my eyes so I didn't have to see the pity in her eyes. "Hale-" She started.

"No, Kat." I cut her off, my voice harsher than I expected. "Don't say anything. You don't know what it feels like. The pain I feel. I'm lonely, an empty, ghostly shell of a person without you. The loneliness, it's completely unbearable."

Kat's fingers found their way up to my face, caressing it gently. I leaned into her touch, welcoming it on my stubbed cheeks.

"Do I really mean that much to you?" Kat's voice sounded tired and disappointed. My eyes snapped open to look at her, and her eyes portrayed that. Those bright blue orbs were always able to allow me to read her, but only when she let her guard down. She was obviously letting her guard down with me right now.

But I couldn't understand her reaction to my previous confession. I waved it aside and answered her question, "Yes."

She gasped and turned in my arms, so that she was straddling me. My arms were around her waist and hers wound around my neck. She leaned forward to press her forehead against mine, and I understood the need for her straddling me. She was too short to have leaned down on me like this regularly.

"Kat?" I whispered her name, so softly I wasn't sure she heard me.

"Hale?"

"What did you dream about?" I had told her my dark dream, and it was my turn to hear hers.

"You and my father." She paused and I didn't push her too explain. She would in a minute. She pressed her body closer to mine and took a deep breath before she spoke. "Taccone had killed my father and he was after you. I was running and running to find you, but I woke up before I could."

"Does Taccone usually kill me?" I was curious. I always lost her in my dreams.

"This is the first time I've every gotten that far in that dream. Usually, I just get to my father being killed. But the whole time I was looking for you, I was thinking of how I couldn't…"

She trailed off and closed her eyes. I pushed her to finish. "Couldn't what, Kat?"

She answered with her eyes shut. "How I couldn't live without you. How I would never forgive myself if I lost you."

Her words made my breath catch in my throat. My right hand slid up her side, touching along her curves and bumping over her collarbone, slipping to cup the back of her neck.

"Kat," I whispered her name. It came out rough and broken, like I was pleading with her. And W.W. Hale the Fifth never pleaded for anything.

She barely had time to say my name before my lips came crushing up to met hers.

Kat's lips were soft and moist. The kiss was tender and sweet, our lips molding and moving together. Our bodies reacted to each other immediately. One of her hands was in my hair, pulling and tugging, while the other slid to rest on my chest. My hand on her neck kept her mouth on mine, the other on her waist pulled her body closer to me.

She pulled away first, gasping as she took a breath of air. Her hand left my hair and joined the other on my chest, pushing me back on the bed. My head hit her pillows at the head of the bed as she held herself over me to kiss me again. This time it was more heated. The longing that we felt for each other in our dreams shone through. This kiss was rougher and more passionate. Our mouths opened and our tongues intertwined as we pulled on each other.

When Kat pulled away from the kiss she trailed her lips down the column of my throat, my breath hitching when her lips tailed over my Adam's apple. I flipped us over so that I was on top. The breath left her body as she gave me a disappointed glare.

I kissed her lips one last time, smiling at her before I nestled myself into her side. I pressed my body into hers, wrapping one arm across her stomach as my head nestled into the crock of her neck.

She leaned her head against mine, and brought one hand up to stroke my hair back. I played with the hem of her shirt for a little while, drawing a light pattern on her stomach with my fingertips.

"Hale?" Kat whispered my name into the darkness.

"Hmm?" I murmured into her skin.

"I would never leave you. Not again." When I didn't say anything right away, she continued, "I just thought that you would want to know."

"Promise me."

The words were out of my mouth before I knew it, but she did what I asked. "I promise to never leave you. I love you too much to leave."

I stiffened against her and raised my head to look at her. "Do you mean that?"

The corner of her lips turned up into a small smile. "I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it."

I nodded my head. "I would never dream about leaving your side either."

"Never?" Her voice was mocking but her eyes portrayed her seriousness.

"Never." I repeated. "I love you too, Kat."

She leaned forward to kiss me on last time, before I lay back down. We got comfortable once more, sleep washing over me.

"Goodnight, Kat." I whispered against the skin of her neck.

She scooted closer to me. "Goodnight, Hale."

Her hand continued to smooth down my hair. The rhythm was soothing and it caused my eyes to droop, and I could no longer keep them wide open. I felt Kat's hand slowly come to a stop, indicating that she had fallen asleep. My grip on the hem of her shirt loosened as well, as my eyes fully shut and the darkness enclosed on me.

Kat murmured something in her sleep, turing into me and entwining our bodies even more. I felt myself smile, knowing that we were together now. We were one and nothing could break us apart. A package deal as one would say; you got both of us or neither of us.

So when I fell asleep that night, I wasn't thinking about what Marcus would think when he found us in bed together later this morning. Nor did I think about what Kat's family would say when they realized that "Mom and Dad" had finally gotten together. I did fall asleep though, thinking about how I was the happiest man on earth in this moment. The one person I loved the most had just promised to never leave me, and to stay by my side through the good and the bad times.

So I feel asleep that night, letting the lonely go and letting Kat into my heart. Realizing that the lonely had finally left my heart was one step forward to realizing that it was finally replaced with something much better.

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><p><strong>Hey Everyone,<strong>

**This idea came to me and I thought to get it all out before I totally forgot about it. Let me know what you guys think. Too OOC? I just thought that since everyone has been asking for some Kat and Hale fluff I'd give you some, since the next chapter or two of "Being All In" probably won't include a lot. It's hard to be fluffy in a re-write of a book when the characters aren't in the originals. I'll see what I can do though, as long as you give me some feedback!**

**Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading my stories. Your ongoing support really keeps me motivated!**

**Until next time,**

**artist1157**


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